The Western Road red route decision came before Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet today (Thursday 17 September) because traders and residents threatened to take the council to court.
A report to the council’s cabinet said that the initial decision to design and implement a red route in Western Road was made in March last year.
And in June, the approval of an “experimental traffic regulation order” was announced at a council meeting.
The report said: “The council has subsequently received a ‘pre-action protocol’ letter and responded.
“This report provides (the) cabinet with more detailed information about the primary aim of the scheme, to reduce congestion and improve bus reliability along this key transport corridor.”
The letter and reply have not been published by the council but members of the cabinet were asked to consider “the issues highlighted” in the letter.
And the cabinet was asked to make “a fresh new decision … in light of this additional information”.
Labour councillor Trevor Muten, the council’s cabinet member for transport and city infrastructure, recused himself from the relevant parts of the meeting, at Hove Town Hall, having previously spoken in favour of the scheme.
It fell to the Labour leader of the council, Bella Sankey, to answer a stream of questions from councillors and the public about the proposal which has proved extraordinarily divisive.
Western Road Community Group member Catherine Lane cited a claim in a council press release – but not in the cabinet report – that bus journey times had become 16.7 per cent longer since 2015.
She asked what baseline would be used and what reduction in journey times would mean that the council could judge the red route to be a success.
Councillor Sankey said that bus journey times were not the legal purpose of red route but the council would monitor congestion to see whether it reduced.
Kim Leyland-Walker said that the red route had been justified by a need to improve bus journey times and reliability, with all buses routed along Western Road and other traffic along the seafront as the result of “a policy decision”.
She said: “The seafront road is woefully underserved with public transport. Indeed, the section parallel to the proposed route (has) no service at all.
“There are also areas parallel to the north that could be better served with more even distribution.”
Councillor Sankey agreed that the seafront could well be better served by public transport and that was something to consider in the future but it was not part of the red route process.
James Taylor said that, short of employing “an army of enforcement officers” to keep the double yellow lines free from illegal parking, what alternatives were there to a red route?
Councillor Sankey said that there were high levels of parking enforcement along Western Road but many drivers moved off when they were observed only to return shortly afterwards.
According to the report to the council’s cabinet, there were 705 enforcement visits to vehicles parked on the existing double yellow lines from April to August this year.
Officers issued 684 penalty charge notices issued but 2,315 vehicles were driven away before a ticket could be legally issued.
Laura King asked whether traders would be compensated for lost business during the complete closure of Western Road for 45 days in the pre-Christmas season.
Councillor Sankey said that the council was required by law to repair roads and the work had been timed to fit between the busy summer and the Christmas trading seasons.
She said the rebuilding and resurfacing of the road was necessary because the foundations had deteriorated significantly and needed more than just a standard resurfacing. Delays could result in an emergency closure rather than planned work.
Brighton and Hove Buses accessibility and communities manager Victoria Garcia said: “When designed alongside appropriate disabled parking, drop-off facilities and ongoing engagement with affected communities, red routes can help create a transport network that is safer, more reliable and more accessible.
“They support the independence of thousands of people who rely on buses every day including many disabled residents.”
Nigel Perkins, from Buswatch, asked whether restaurants, shops and estate agents needed space for people to park and deliver goods in the way that the likes of Sainsbury’s and Tesco did.
He said: “The red routes along both the Lewes and London roads now seem to be working well with no significant adverse effects on local businesses.
“They have clearly marked areas for loading, unloading and also disabled parking. Bus services along these routes have also become more reliable due to the improved traffic flow.”
The council’s cabinet approved an “experimental traffic regulation order” to enable Western Road to become a red route between Montpelier Road, Brighton, and Holland Road, Hove.
When the road reopens after a 45-day complete closure, the new red route is expected to go live.
Traders and residents were understood to be consulting their legal advisers to decide whether to challenge the council’s decision in the courts by way of a judicial review.
Well I never…..
Another cash-cow road trap…
Fines are easily avoidable by not parking where you shouldn’t!
It’s the impact on local businesses from lost custom, and the lack of parking for disabled motorists, that the scheme is expected to cause, and the council just don’t care as they obsess with “promoting Active Travel” and ignore the needs of residents, the disabled, and the local economy.
Shot yourself in the foot, there. The needs of residents and people with disabilities include the ability to travel actively, safely and where the air is cleaner. They are also better for the local economy because they spend more locally.
Not too sure about lost business when there is already parking restrictions in place with the use of double yellow lines.
Agreed. I stopped going to shops in Portland Road Portslade to comply with the parking rules that were brought in. The shops I used to go to are no longer there, it’s so much easier to comply with the parking rules now.
Can you please tell me which stores in Portland Road, Portslade have closed down. Whilst you’re at it could you tell me whereabouts Portland Road in Portslade is?
Maybe not a resident?
Don’t break the law, you won’t get fined.
It’s a simple concept really.
Yes, it’s a simple concept, which laws do we follow for bus gates?
TSRGD 953, Mike Beasley.
Thank you. Couldn’t see a reference to bus gate, 13 results on the word “gate”. What have i missed?
It’s like watching a ship heading for an iceberg and frantically trying to warn the Captain to avert course to avoid disaster but Captain Sankey would rather hit the iceberg and lose the entire ship than be wrong.
She’s a dangerous woman. Small wonder so many of her crew have jumped ship already.
I know, the hostility to safeguarding is beyond belief
As someone who uses buses daily and who has enforced the parking along Western Road i’m all for it. This was a big issue over 10 years ago when I worked there and probably long before that too. A red route should have been put in years ago.
Please explain how narrowing the prior stretch Western Road from Churchill Square to Taj has improved bus times, since the road is now too narrow for buses to overtake each other. I’ll wait…
Do buses need to take over each other though?
But I’ve seen buses pass parked cars and vans on the yellow lines between Churchill Square and Waitrose.
What has helped bus flow though is the removal of the Clarence Square bus stops (basically where Primark is) which was a bus blocker and where buses were over taking each other.
So, the instigator of this plan, cyclists friend Councillor Trevor Muten, runs away and leaves Councillor Bella Sankey in charge.
And then Bella won’t commit that this project will improve the very bus journey times that Trevor claimed we’re the reason for the scheme.
Very similar to how these very councillors would not state what the predefined quantitative success criteria for VG1-VG3 were in terms of active travel, journey times, accidents, and emission levels.
Could it be that this scheme was really envisioned by Bricycles and motorist-demonising prospective Green Councillor for Queen’s Park, Mark Strong to deter cars and encourage cycling along Western Road, and that Councillor Muten is just their “tame puppy”?
Your hatred is obsessive. The Red Route on Lewes Road, near me, is a vast improvement, the traffic lights by the pier have not increased traffic congestion (despite endless predictions to the contrary – where have all those armchair experts gone? You don’t hear them now!) and the area in front of the Pavilion is much more pleasant. I don’t know enough about Western Road to know if a Red Route there is a good idea or not, but you’re going to have to come up with a better argument against than that it’s all a conspiracy by evil cyclists. Quite frankly you sound ridiculous.
I have been using the Lewes Road for over fifty years now both on foot and by bus and can tell you quite frankly that the red route has not made one iota of difference to the time it takes the bus to get from the gyratory to the level but has made walking worse due to the number of tradesmen’s vehicles now parking on the pavement due to the lack of loading bays..
Cllr Muten, as the article said, recused himself, as he was involved in making the original decision. This was the proper thing to do.
It’s increasingly disturbing to observe a council wholly inflexible in its determination to act against the interests of both the city and its electorate and with NO concessions. Ten years ago, this proposal would have been binned months ago by a council desperate to be re-elected who saw the need to prioritise its popularity over its unpopular ideas, however insincere they were underneath and planning to resurrect said unpopular ideas once re-elected, but this council is acting like a tin pot dictatorship on speed.
They are literally signing their own political death warrant.
Tracy, I concur with you about the inflexibility of this administration. This has been demonstrated by the vote to close Wellington House at great expense to the community and the stripping of public assets such as the impending sale of the building and the King Alfred proposals. Where we do disagree is that they are acting against the interests of the city and electorate..(is that the same thing?) On this occasion, I believe that the red route is for the benefit of the vast majority of the people. What you are describing about 10 years ago only demonstrates that those politicians were perhaps addicted to power and lacked integrity? Is that a valid reason for avoiding controversy when the principle is beneficial?
So.
Put cameras in to enforce parking without a red route.
When all the shopkeepers turn up with blue badges. Review and revoke them.
Grow some balls.
Unfortunately that solution is not allowable thus the necessity for the red route. However if the current regulations weren’t flouted, there would be no need for any of this. It is the fault of the selfish, inconsiderate motorists that have predicated this decision, among them a high number of the traders.
I didn’t think you could drive a car from Montpelier to Churchill Sq.the signs force you left or right at the traffic lights.
Also Brighton has become a run down seaside town ,if that is your only choice of shopping centre you are being sold short.
So was looking at the sign outside BHF on the Red, the signage actually has a loading exception.